Aoishiro: Lapis Lazuli Waltz
by BigDragonDracul
Summary: Osanai Shouko is an average high school student belonging to Seijou Girls Academy. President of the Literature club, she has an all around normal life. All of that changes when a mysterious girl washes up on the beach when there at the Summer sea, with no memory. A retelling of the Visual Novel Aoishiro with Madoka Magica thrown in. Rated T for Yuri and violence.
1. Prologue

_**OOC:** **Thought it would be better just to combine all the chapters under prologue **_

"Osa Osa, Osa-sempai!"* A high pitched voice interrupted me from the book I was reading, causing myself to sigh in annoyance. I put down the white paperback novel, and said, in my usual monotone voice,

"Momoko-chan, what do you want?" Akita Momoko was a first year student of Seijou Girls Academy. Known for her highly energetic personality, obsession with meat, rock music, and manga, the short brunette hardly focused on anything, and was usually all over the place. Unfortunately for myself, she was around me a large percent of the day. You see, Momoko belonged to the same club as me, the Literature club. I simply tolerated her, since I knew, at the end of the day; Momoko was a good girl, as annoying as she could be, which is all that really mattered. Momoko was slim, had brown hair, was of average height, and usually had her hair shoulder length, spiky, and with twin tails. From what I had heard, her family was from the mountains, a highly rural area. She was roommates with a fellow literature club member, Aizawa Yasumi. Yasumi wasn't at the club today; because her illness prevented her from leaving bed. She was known for being a very sick young woman, and had good days, and bad days. Normally, Momoko would stay with Yasumi when she was feeling too ill to leave bed, but today, Momoko had multiple tests, and couldn't afford to miss any of them on account of Yasumi.

I Osani Shouko was a third year at Seijou Girls Academy. Born into a middle class family, I attended West Tokyo elementary school, and later West Tokyo middle school, before being accepted into Seijou Girls Academy High School. I was raised by my grand father, and grand mother, due to my father and mother never having time for me, being very busy with work and all. They say, that it didn't matter who your biological parents were, authority figures in your early life, regardless of them being your parent or not. That statement proved true to me, as I inherited my grandfather's grumpiness, stoic personality, and cool headiness. Other girls would constantly call me an old man which, in terms of personality, wasn't far off from the truth.

Momoko looked at me , before giving me a warm smile, and a curious glance,

"Hmmmmm…give me a second, I forgot what I was going to ask you Osa…" She stood there. Putting her hand to her chin in an inquisitive gesture. I could only watch as the young teenager looked through her mind,

_Hopefully she doesn't remember…_

Momoko's face shone up, as if to say "Eureka". She let out a loud, joyous laugh, and said,

"Ah now I remember. I was going to ask if we could stop reading these boring period drama books, and instead, read some lovely Mahou Shojo manga!: Momoko asked, with an eager and energetic face. I responded bluntly,

"No."

"But-"

"No. I don't think reading about small girls in frills fighting monsters would be proper for a club like ours."

Personally, anime and manga never really interested me. Sure, I had watched some when I was younger, but after becoming a high school student, the appeal vanished. To Shouko, anime and manga was nothing more than cartoon women, with big breasts and slim bodies, fighting evil with huge muscular men. And besides, my best friend, Sakurai Ayashiro, was a creepy Lolicon, so I didn't need any more anime or manga in my life. I much preferred reading swordsmanship novels, along with watching period drama's on the T.V, or study. Momoko's face puffed up at my remark

"Osa is being stuck up."

A quiet and kind voice rescued me from Momoko's prating, allowing myself to focus my attention on the other person,

"Osa-Sempai, you don't like Magical Girl Anime?" The voice belonged to Kaname Madoka. A first year. She had pink hair. Red ribbons, and was very short to the point Shouko once misidentified her as a grade schooler. She was shy, non-outgoing, but extremely kind, the only trait she shared with Momoko. Madoka belonged to a rich family, and her mother was an influential business woman. She used to live in Mitakihara City, but after being accepted into Seijou Girls Academy, she was forced to move into the dorms. She had nervously asked Shouko for directions on her first day of school, and later joined the Literature Club. She was roommates with a girl who came from the same city, an Akemi Homura. They spent all of their time off together, and were practically sisters, or, as the rumors went, quote on quote, "more than sisters". Well it's true, Homura acted extremely "friendly" to Madoka, I never paid any rumors in general any attention. Homura was also a member of the Literature club, but like Yasumi, Homura had good days and bad days. She had a heart problem, and was now in Tokyo getting surgery for it. Madoka had originally insisted on going with Homura, but she had waved her off, not wanting to trouble the pinkette with her surgery. Quickly, I responded to Madoka's question

"No, I don't Madoka. I find it childish." Madoka giggled, and said, "While that's true, don't you ever imagine yourself in one of those outfits, fighting for the greater good and such?"

I snorted, "Never. Most of my time spent as a child was practicing and honing my kendo skills. I only had time to watch the occasional episode of Sailor Moon, or some Gundam."

I glanced at my wrist watch, checking what time it was. Looking outside of the window, the sun had already started to go down, and the rays of orange light danced around the curtains. It was about time for me to go, the walk to my Grandfather's house usual took two hours. I was so into the book, I didn't realise me, Madoka, and Momoko were the only ones left inside the classroom. I got out of her desk, putting the whitepaper back book into my blue knapsack. Straightening out my uniform, I waved goodbye to the two other remaining members,

"Goodbye Momoko, goodbye Madoka, I'll see you both tomorrow." Both of them said at the same time,

"Goodbye Osa-Sempai." Both of them said at the same time,

And with that, I left the classroom, heading down the hallway to my locker. I stopped dead in my tracks, as someone suddenly grabbed my breasts from behind, causing me to blush a furious shade of red. I didn't need to glance back to see who this was,

"Ayashiro, get your hands off of me!" A loud giggle could be heard from behind me, and the face of a long black-haired girl could be seen beside me,

"Don't worry Osa, you know I like my breasts smaller."

_What a perverted creep._

I aggressively, wiped my bag around, and slammed it into Ayashiro's face, causing her to yelp, and fall over. On the ground, she raised her hands,

"Stop, I surrender."

Her voice was calm, collected, and kind. Deception at its finest. When she was around teachers and other classmates, Ayashiro was a sweet, quiet, black haired Japanese beauty. Coming from insanely rich parents, all of this leading to her receiving the nickname, "Hime"*****. Around me, she degraded into a creepy, perverted, Lolicon, obsessed with little girls. However, I had known her most of her life, with her being the vice president of the literacy club, and me being the President. Overall, she was harmless, as she would always say,

"My honor as a Lolicon prevents me from actually touching the precious Loli's. You have nothing to fear from me best friend."

Which she did now. Letting out a little chuckle, I offered her my hand, and talked with her for a while, before taking my leave of the school.

Darkness crept around me, dusk had already fallen. There was barely any light left, only rays of orange in the distance. Luckily, there was a chill summer breeze flowing, causing my skin to feel cool and good. In the background, I could hear Cicadas singing, which lent me a peaceful feeling. All in all, I was glad I decided not to take the bus. Evenings like this were rare, especially evenings when you we're by yourself, with no one else to spoil the quiet, relaxing atmosphere. I had only ran into a handful of people, walking the other direction, and saw even fewer cars on the road, leading to a sense of isolation, which wasn't a negative. Heaving up my bag and fixing my shoulder length black hair, I continued down the sidewalk, deep in thought.

Back at school, despite how briefly they talked, Ayashiro had brought up the topic of where their club was going to go for their training camp this year during summer break, which was only a few weeks away. Despite me belonging to the Literature club, I had always appreciated the former President's love of physical activity, and despite the main focus of reading books, I had kept the former President's policy of at least one session of exercise per meeting. As such, there club was much more physically active then this kind of club would usually be. Normally, it would be too late to go to someplace fancy, but the former president had already planned for our club to go to Shoushinji before she stepped down, which was an area near the Southern sea. It was planned they would stay at a small Buddhist temple. All organised by the club's advisor, Aoi Hanako, the school's newest Literature teacher. The trip was supposed to make up for last year's crummy training camp, which took place in the school's library. Many of the first years, especially Momoko, were extremely excited and I really didn't want to disappoint them. So, more likely than not, the trip was happening-

"YOU IDIOT!"

Suddenly, my peaceful walk, and contemplation was interrupted by shouting, coming from a few meters away from me. A flash of red hair greeted me, as a teenager around the age of sixteen went into my view. The sunlight hadn't completely vanished yet, so I could make out details about her body. She was tall, lean, had very long crimson hair, and had crimson eyes. She wore blue jeans, and a navy blue sweater. Her face was visibly red. She opened her mouth, and spoke in an angered tone of voice,

"Sayaka, you're so unreasonable!"

Another voice responded to that,

"Me? Unreasonable?! All you do is sit at home all day, wasting space and eating. It's always "Oh Sayaka can I copy your homework" or "Sayaka, can you do my project for me." Your always mooching off me, Kyouko." The voice was equally angry. I noticed another person; she had average height, had light blue eyes, was slim, and had deep blue short hair. The two girls were now inches apart waving their fingers at another; I started to wonder if I should intervene. Both of these girls looked familiar, I could have sworn I had seen Madoka hanging around the blue haired girl, and seen Homura with the red-headed one on a few occasions.

_It isn't my business, so I should just walk past them,_

I didn't like snooping on or interrupting people's private affairs, so I choose to ignore the pair, who didn't seem to notice me as I walked past them. Their angry shouts could be heard in the distance for a good while, before disappearing. The loud song of the Cicada could be heard once again in the background. The peaceful feeling returned to me, as I let out a breath of relief.

To some people, I seemed anti-social, which in my opinion wasn't the case. I just didn't like the fact having relationships with people tended to lead to arguments and fights, which is one of the reasons I never put any effort into having a boyfriend. In fact, I had never ever been attracted to any boys at my elementary school and my middle school. It was much simpler just having friends.

I glanced at my hand watch; it read "eight o clock."

_I really should have left school earlier, _

I had walked around an hour, so I was about half-way home. On average, I usually left school at six, and my grandfather expected me back home at eight. Today I was going to be late. I decided I might as well call him up and tell him. Taking out my cellphone from my back pocket, I dialed his number, and put it to my ear, after the usual few seconds of beeping, I could hear a gruff voice on the other side,

"Hello?"

I responded in an equally gruff voice, "Grandfather?"

"Ah it's Shouko, are you almost home?"

"No. I left school a bit late. I'll be home in an hour."

"Alright, is there anything else?"

"No."

"Then I'll see you at home. Goodbye." The phone cut off.

That's how most conversations went with my grandfather, short, and straight to the point. Both me and my grandfather hated pleasantries, and would rather have people speak bluntly. We meant nothing bad of it, it's just the way we think and how we we're. Grandmother was always the one who was good with people, and balanced out grandfather's roughness. Ever since she died, his gruffness would usually go overboard, and since she died when I was young, Grandfather had influenced my personality more than her.

Picking up the pace, I walked faster down the cement sidewalk, hoping to get home before the moon was out. For some reason, I had always had an uneasy feeling when the moon was about, shining its pale light down upon the earth. It was distance, so vast, and it always made me feel so small. But I suppose, it also gave people a peaceful feeling with its moonlight guiding you through the darkness. All in all, Shouko preferred the stars over it.

Yawning I looked towards the distance, the sunlight was all but consumed, and on the last stretch, I would have to be careful not to get lost in the darkness or trip.

* * *

Opening the front door with my set of keys, I walked into my grandfather's house. It was of medium size, and was of western design instead of being Japanese styled. Taking my shoes off, and placing them on the shoe rack beside the door, I walked down the hallway into the living room. Grandfather wasn't there. I quickly went to the kitchen, and found a plastic container filled with food on the counter along with a note, which read,

_Will be asleep by the time you get back. Make sure to heat this._

Grabbing the container, I opened it and put its contents onto a plate, before placing it into the microwave. Going to the table, I sat down on a chair, and took out my phone. The screen said I had one unread text. It was from Yasumi.

"How are U? Sorry I couldn't make it to the club meeting."

I quickly typed in response,

"I'm doing fine. Are you feeling any better than you we're this morning?" I pressed send.

Yasumi's response came quick,

"Much better , thank you Shouko-Sempai :) ."

"Take any medication?"

"No. It rarely helps anyway, so I didn't bother."

"Okay. Are you and Momoko going to sleep soon?"

Shouko waited a good few minutes before the responded,

"No. Momoko is making me watch some kind of anime. She won't tell me what it's about though."

"You have my sympathy. What's the name of it?"

"I think…_Sakura Trick?_"

"Never heard of it."

Knowing Momoko, it was most likely a Shonen, or at the least something action packed.

"Well Momoko's about to put it on. LOL, she's not letting me text anyone while we watch. Guess it's goodbye, I'll see you at school in the morning then Shouko-Sempai, night."

"Goodnight."

I put the phone down, as I took the warmed food out of the microwave. Going to a cupboard, I retrieved a pair of chopsticks for my use. Sitting back down, I put my hands together and said,

"Adakimas."

Despite there being no one else here, I still ate with respect. Taking my time, I enjoyed the meal.

Being unusually tired, I decided to go to sleep after eating dinner, as well as finish my other required chores. Upstairs I took a quick shower, after drying myself and changing into my pajama's from my School Uniform I did my homework, which wasn't too much, as I finished in a good time. It was around ten thirty by the time I had done everything I was supposed to. Getting into bed, I put the blanket over my legs, and reached for the light switch.

A sudden ring from my phone stopped my hand. Reaching for it on the nightstand beside my bed, I tapped the screen to check the text. It was from Ayashiro,

"Still up?" It said, in bold text. Quickly using my thumbs to type a message, I pressed 'send',

"Yeah."

Ayashiro's response came moments later, and it was a link. Just by reading the URL, I could tell what it most likely was. I selected the message, and pressed 'delete'.

Not responding, I ignored the girl. Soon, I received another message.

" I'm sorry...do you think I'm a horrible person :( ?"

I typed,

"Yes." Ayashiro's next text read,

"Would you forgive me if I treated you to lunch tomorrow?"

I smiled faintly,

"Maybe."

Ayashiro's responded swiftly

"Come on, I'll even splurge on desert. So pleasssssseeeee?"

"Fine, I forgive you."

"LULZ, thanks Shouko-Chan. You truly are the best of brides."

"Don't get ahead of yourself."

"You're no fun. BTW, Homura-Chan's surgery went extremely well. She'll be back at school on Friday. Madoka wants to throw her a surprise welcome back party."

A feeling of relief washed over me. Homura didn't have the strongest body, and heart surgery was a complicated and risky matter. As Homura's friend, President, and Senpai, I had been worried sick for her.

"That's great news. But I don't think throwing a surprise party is the best idea."

"Why not?"

"You know as well as I do Homura doesn't parties in general."

Homura Akemi was a...very shy person. She hated crowds, disliked when attention was cast on her, and usually kept to herself and too Madoka. Usually while walking down the halls, Homura would keep her head down, and avoid eye contact with anyone she didn't know well. If someone greeted her, she would mumble a feeblish "hello", before hurrying on her way. Overall, I think having a surprise party would only cause her stress.

"It'll be good for her. She spends way too much time reading, and with her "beloved"."

"There's nothing wrong with Homura being uncomfortable with people she doesn't know."

"It'll be good for her, and it'll be fun for the rest of us."

"I suppose so, just let Madoka handle it. I don't want to imagine what kind of party your twisted mind would conjure up."

";) "

I turned the phone off after that, pressing the power button, before putting it back on the nightstand. Turning off the lights, I laid my head against the pillow and closed my eyes, soon I was sound asleep.

* * *

Nothing but Lapis Lazuli filled my vision, as I felt myself float down under the waves. I gasped for air but none would come, my body continued to go deeper into the blue water. My vision was blurred by the water, and I couldn't see cleared. I knew I was in a body of water, but I couldn't tell if it was something as small as a lake, or an ocean.

A realisation came to me.

_I knew where this was. This is the Sumner sea... I... have been here before-_

_You mustn't_

A sharp pain erupted from my temple.

_You mustn't_

My vision was getting better, regardless of the pain, I could see clearly now. The water was…glistening with pale blue light. Everything was so clear now. The sea shone like a fire flies, covering my skin in glowing Lapis Lazuli colors. The source of the light was below me…something was down there. Carefully squinting my eyes I could spot something that looked vaguely similar to a…building. A gate maybe?

_Crimson_

For a brief second, I caught a glimpse of water dyed blood red, but as soon as it came, it vanished, as the bright water banished it from my vision. I grasped onto the image in my mind, and attempted to play it back in my head to no avail. Seconds later, a voice entered my ear,

"Shouko-Chan…" Someone was calling me. The voice was quiet, and subdued. It also sounded like it was echoing from somewhere.

"Shouko-Chan…" There it was again. I tried calling out to it, but my voice wouldn't heed me. My determination to respond to the voice only caused a large amount of bubbles to form around my mouth. It was of little use. I couldn't speak, as my voice drowned in the serenity of the sea.

I raised my right hand, reaching to the surface, as my body sank into the abyss of water.

"Shouko-Chan…"

* * *

_What a strange dream…_

Rays of orange sunlight entered into my eyes, as I awoke with a yawn. I seldom remembered what I dreamt about but today was different. I recalled fragments of it. I remembered...a voice calling out to me, along with...bright blue lights and...lots of water.

_It doesn't matter. It was only a dream after all…_

Being the punctual person I was, I usually woke up around the same time each day without the use of an alarm clock. People would commend me for that, but it was really just the way my mind and body worked. Nothing worthy of praise

Taking off the blanket, I got out of my bed and started to stretch, yawning even louder than before. I felt unusually tired. Rubbing my eyes, I reached for my phone to check the time.

_Five Twenty AM._

Leaving my room, I headed to the restroom, and took a quick shower. Putting the water on hot, I scratched the shampoo into my scalp, and rinsed it. Cleaning my arms and legs with body wash and a sponge, I turned the water off. Grabbing a towel, I quickly dried myself. After that, I took my blow-dryer, and dried my hair. Afterword's, I left the bathroom covered with a towel, and went back to my room. First I brushed my short black hair, before I got changed into my school uniform. Grabbing my bag, I double checked if I had all my schoolwork and books with me. Closing the door into my room, I headed downstairs to the kitchen, and fixed myself some breakfast, just some simple "Lucky Charms" cereal with milk. I ate quickly, and after finishing, cleaned up. Leaving the kitchen, I headed to the front door. Putting on my pair of sneakers, I opened the door and left my Grandfather's house. As expected, the sun had barely risen, and the area was under a blanket of weak light. Taking my first step, I headed to school,

* * *

"Osa, Osa-Sempai, good morning!" Cried out Momoko, as she waved her hand at the sight of the senior student. Letting out a sigh, I waved back. Beside her was the ever quiet bruntte Aizawa Yasumi. Having long, wavy brown hair, porclein white skin, and deep green eyes, you could say she looked like a western styled doll. Her personality matched that, being quiet, reserved, and the complete opposite of her roommate, the highly energetic Momoko, I suppose they balanced each other out. At the sight of me, she blushed a shade of red, and nodded her head,

"Osanai-Sempai."

_That's pretty formal..._

Yasumi had a habit of tensing up, and becoming stiff when I was around her. Furthermore, she would drop familiarity, and address me by my last name. Was she uncomfortable around me? Regardless, I gave them both a small smile,

"Good morning Momoko, good morning Yasumi."

I looked around my surrounds, the hallway was crowded with students either going to their lockers, or going to their home-room classes. Glancing back at the two first years, I said,

"So, are you feeling any better Yasumi ?"

She squeaked, and her eyes went wide,

" Hmmm? OH YES, better Osanai-Sempai." She said nodding her head. Looking for a way to ease her clear discomfort, I remembered she mentioned something about her and Momoko watching an anime last night.

_What was it...Sakura Trick, I think she said its name was._

Smiling I asked,

"That's good. So, how did you two enjoy that anime last night, Sakura Trick right?"

That caused Yasumi's face to become pure scarlet, along with causing her voice to crack,

"Ummmmmm...ummmmmmm...ummmmmm..."

Momoko went beside Yasumi, with a mischievous look on her face and a grim, cat-like, smile.

_Uh oh. Momoko's like this when she's up to something..._

"Say, Zawachii..."

Zawachii was the nick-name Momoko used for Yasumi. Continuing, Momoko said,

"Wouldn't you want to reenact some of those scenes with Osa here-"

She was cut off by the normally mild-mannered Yasumi screaming out "MOMO-CHAN!" Yasumi's face by now looked like a tomato, as she grabbed Momoko and hurried away, leaving confused me in the dust.

* * *

"The first use of vampires in literature is commonly believed to be Bram Stoker's _Dracula, _but in actuality, its predated by the novel _Carmilla_ by twenty-five years,written by Sheridam Le Fanu. Overall, the most well-known early known example is the novella, _The Vampryre, _written by John William Polidori in 1819." Said Aoi-Sensei. Holding a book in one hand, and the button connected to the white screen in the other, our literature teacher Aoi Hanako carried on with the lesson. Giving her my utmost attention, I wrote in my notebook.

Aoi Hanako was the newest teacher at Seijou Girl's Academy, coming to the school a year ago. She had a pair of silver spectacles on her face, and wore a suit and pair of dress pants. She was of average height, had her brown hair in a pony tail, while having spiky bangs on the front. Wearing a yellow ribbon in her hair, she had the air of a teacher, having strict posture, and the looks. She was usually serious, but had a mischievous side to her. Aoi-Sensei enjoyed frightening her students with tales of monsters and ghosts, which an unlucky class learned the hard way during Halloween last year. She was the Literature club's advisor, and she knew everything about the subject.

Continuing she said, "Both _Carmilla_ and _Dracula_ have similar themes and traits, especially with the two titular characters, Count Dracula, and Lady Carmilla. Besides both belonging to the nobility, Carmilla and Count Dracula have erotic traits about them, and are attracted too female characters. Dracula with Milla, and Carmilla with the protagonist Laura."

At Aoi-sensei's mention of the feminine name "Laura", Ayashiro, who was seated beside me, raised her hand,

"Yes, Sakurai-san?" Aoi-sense pointed her finger at her. Ayashiro spoke in her usual, subdued voice,

"Did you say Laura and Camilla? Those are female names right?"

Aoi-sensai nodded, "Yes. _Carmilla _has a good deal of lesbian undertones." The entire class broke into conversation at that. I just quietly looked at the screen, as I wrote a note down.

_It's not that big of a deal._

Aoi-sensei brought her hands up, "All right settle down class." She brought up the button she was holding, and pointed to the white screen at the front of the classroom. I glanced up,

She pressed down on the button, causing an image to appear on the screen. It was a pale looking man in an over the top red and black outfit, he had black hair, and a pair of fangs. Aoi-Sensei, pointed to his teeth.

"Vampire's are commonly depicted with having fangs. Like Dracula over here. This is because usually, depending on the folklore, vampires require blood to survive and usually use their fangs to cause bleeding in the neck area."

She pressed the button again, causing an image of a bat to appear,

"The animal they are usually connected to are bats. Most likely because some bats drink blood to survive, vampire bats. In some cases, vampires actually have the ability to transform into bats."

Moving to another image, this time of a wolf.

"Vampire's are also connected to wolves. In Bran Stoker's Dracula, the count has the ability to transform into a wolf. Which is funny, since in today's time writers are obsessed with having lycantropes, men who turn into wolves, fight vampires." At that, Aoi-Sensei's face puffed, and she had an annoyed expression. She really didn't like the modern portrayal of vampires. Pressing down on the button in her hand, she caused another image to appear, this time to a rat, which caused a lot of the girls in the room to cover their faces and let out a collective "ewwwww" or "gross".

"Yes vampire's occasionally have rat motif's. In Bran Stoker's novel, Dracula can change his shape into a rat."

* * *

The lesson went on for another hour. When the bell rang, all the girls in the class began to leave the classroom. Aoi-Sensei called out as they left,

"Remember to do questions one to twenty on page four hundred in your textbook, good day class." She went to her reclining chair behind her desk, took out a small book, and started to read. Clearing my throat, I approached her desk and said,

"Excuse me Aoi-Sensei."

"Hmmmm, oh, Osanai-San, you need something? Did you have any questions about the lesson?"

"No Sensei. I was just asking if were still on track to go to Shoushinji."

She responded, "Yes, we still are. Just have to plan the bus, and were all set. Was there anything else?"

I coughed, "Ah. Nothing else. I'll see you later than, good day Sensei."

"Good day Shouko." And with that, I bowed my head and began to leave the classroom. I was stopped by Aoi-Sensei calling out to me,

"Hold on for a moment, Shouko." I turned my head, "Yes? Is there anything you need Sensei?"

"Are you having second thoughts about going?"

I put up my hands, "It's not that. Just want to make sure everything is going smoothly. Because of ill planning last year, we had to have our training camp in the library as you know, which was a little disappointing." It was more than a little disappointing to some in our club. Shouko remembered when the former president gave the news

"Ah. Okay. Well than I'll see you later Shouko. Bye."

"Goodbye." I said, bowing my head once again. Turning around, I headed to my third period class, I still had a few more hours before school ended, so I needed to focus my attention on doing well. Still, this was the first real training camp I was going on, so I couldn't help but feel excited. Only three more weeks to summer vacation, and four more until we went to Shoushinji.

_Stay in the present Shouko..._

I shook my head Mathematics was next, so I needed to clear my head.

* * *

Glancing at my phone's screen , I checked the time,

_Four thirty_

School had ended a good thirty minutes ago and I was heading to the classroom were our club gathered. Normally, me and Ayaoishiro would be the first ones there, as we were the president and vice-president after all. However, today I had cleaning duty for Science class, which thankfully only delayed me by thirty minutes. The ones who arrived second were usually Homura and Madoka, but Homura was away and in Tokyo city, so only Madoka would be there. Next would be Yasumi, who was the club manager, along with Momoko, but today both of them were attending a concert which was at five, so they wouldn't be here. The other fifteen club members would arrive at varying times.

Going down the hallway, and spotting the doorway which lead to the classroom I went over to it and grasped the metal door knob. Turning it around, I opened the door quietly and entered. Rays of sunlight assaulted my vision as I stepped inside, coming from the large open windows.

The classroom was relatively large, filled with an abundance of wooden desks, and was outfitted with a chalk board. Scanning the room, I counted only one other person besides me, a short pink haired girl. She was presumably deep into the book she was reading, and didn't notice me come in. It was Madoka.

_Strange Ayashiro is usually here, she must have had something to do._

Creeping up behind her, I blankly said,

"What are you reading?"

Surprised she let out a shout, turning around, blushing, and putting the book she was reading behind herself so I couldn't see it, she said in her normal tone of voice

"Osa-Sempai, I...didn't see you come in ."

"Thought I would surprise you." I replied, curtly. Moving my head slightly to the right, I attempted to catch a glimspe of the book she had hidden from my view. In response she adjusted her body to keep the book hidden.

"Since no one was here, I assumed you or Ayaoshiro-Sempai cancelled today's meeting. So...I decided to catch up on some reading."

"Ah. What are you reading exactly?"

She didn't say anything, as she bowed her head in shame, holding out the hard cover book. Looking at the title, I suddenly felt very embarrassed, which was incredibly childish considering the topic,

"Living in a lesbian relationship." I read out loud, which caused madoka's face to become full scarlet.

She blubbered out, "I'm only reading it because the topic interested me. Don't get any wrong impressions Osa." Madoka started to flail her arms about. I just calmly said,

"Listen, Madoka. Its all right, just take a few deep breaths and calm down."

Pulling out a chair, I sat down on it, and put a hand to her shoulders. Following my advice, she let out three giant mouthful of air, and began to wind down. Taking my hand off her shoulder I said,

"Now , Madoka. I am not only your Sempai, and president of the club you belong too, I'm also your friend. And as you friend, you can tell me anything."

I gave her the warmest smile I could muster, which must have looked really akward. Either no one was saying anything, or I was the only one to notice, Madoka wasn't acting how she normally would as of late. She was more withdrawn, and on some occasions, sad. Of course, this was only when Homura wasn't present, and when she was, Madoka shone up like a fire cracker. Despite my early assesment of not trusting rumours, I had started to wonder if this really was a "simple rumor".

Shying away, Madoka feeblishly asked,

"Do you...promise not to tell anyone?"

"I swear." I promised her.

Being hesitant, she waited ten seconds, before finally saying, "I'm... dating...another girl..."

"I see. It's Homura isn't it?"

"Yeah."

While I was the last person to ask for relationship advice, Madoka trusted me enough to tell me her secret, which was reason enough for me to listen. I asked, in a stern, yet kind tone,

"How serious are the two of you? Its quite common for two girls, especially, at an all-girls school to have a relationship that seems intimate enough to make it look like their in a romantic relationship, while they actually aren't."

"We've kissed rather passionately twice now, and I've given her lesser pecks to the lips and cheeks countless times ."

"Okay. So serious?"

"Very." She simply said.

Nodding, I continued, "What seems to be the problem then?"

Tugging at her red ribbons, Madoka looked away, "Me and Homura had a disagreement, right before she left foe Tokyo City. She wants to keep the extent of our relationship secret. I...want to tell my parents." Pausing for a second, she took a deep breath, and continued, "I tell my mom everything...so me deceiving her like this is really saddening me. As my parent she has the right to know I'm a ...lesbian."

"What is Homura's exact problem with people knowing?"

"She says are parents will get angry, and that people won't want to be around us anymore.

_Well, my view on Homura and Madoka hadn't changed in the slightest, and whilst it would most likely be a problem at a co-ed school, Seijou was a completely different story. As an all-girls school, lesbian relationships were treated much more casually, and not frowned upon, at least by the majority of the school. Honestly, Homura was being a little over-cautious._

Clearing my throat, I said,

"I don't think you two have anything to worry about. I doubt anyone at this school would give you any trouble. And if they did, me and Ayashito wouldn't stand for it."

"Really?" Her eyes went wide, and she smiled.

"Yeah. And your mother seems like an understanding person, so just explain that to Homura. I'm sure she'll see your side. You don't have to hide the person you love Madoka."

"I'll talk to Homura about it, we've used skype as of late. " Madoka bowed her head in gratitude and smiled "Thank you for listening to me Osa."

Returning the smile, I patted her on the head. "It was no problem, you can come to me anytime if you need someone to chat with."

* * *

When I got home, I decided to go on my computer for a little. Typing a message, I clicked "send" with my mouse. In clear blue the screen read Facebook". I initially hated the site, and was forced to get an account by Ayaoishiro, admittedly, I seldom used it. But it did have its pros.

Suddenly, the top corner of my screen flashed red, I had a message. Clicking on the strange circular icon, the message popped up. It was from Ayaishiro.

"Check Madoka's account."

Going to my friends list, I selected Madoka Kanama. Clicking on the tab "status", I entered into the page. Using my eyes to scan the text, a smile appeared on my lips, as I read out loud,

"Madoka Kaname and Homura Akemi Status: Dating."

Reading some of the comments, I chuckled,

"From Junko Kaname: OMG my little girl is growing up. Have fun you two and congratz ;)"


	2. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1: Legends, The Sea, and Busses**_

_OOC: Real sorry it took this long. Been really busy with school._

_A long time ago…_

_Over two thousands years ago an island on the southern peninsula, Onigashmia, was captured by a group of Oni. Oh, it wasn't a big island, however, it was a gift from the gods, we couldn't just hand it over to foreign Oni. To re-conquer the island, the Shogun immediately formed a group of soldiers and crossed the rough waves to Onigashmia. However, the opponent was an Oni. It was strong and used sorcery._

_As the Oni lord conjured his dark spells, an unearthly aura rose among black clouds. Strong rains and winds turned the sea stormy. The difficult tides bore into the ships bottoms and the sea became very difficult to travel across. To make matters worse, there was an explosive storm, like a colossal giant from Norse mythology, the Shogun couldn't lay a finger on it._

_Whether it was a curse, or another one of the Oni's spells, a plague appeared and spread across the land. With plague, came famine, earthquakes, typhoons, and droughts. The situation had almost detorited to the point that the Shogun considered surrender. After ending for two years, things finally changed for the best. The population had been reduced to one half, when the king of time told the princess of Japans a revelation from Ryuujin-Sama, the Dragon God. If the princess followed those words, the Dragon god would cure the pestilence. However, the problem persisted._

_The island was still occupied by Oni, and because of the summoned storm, no one could cross to the island. The princess continued praying diligently day and night. A white cat with red eyes, was said to be her only companion during her vigil,_

_"Please, Dragon god. Cure this disease and stop the storm." She pleaded_

_The princess prayed for three years to the god that lights the sea and he finally answered._

_The sea turned bright Lapis Lazuli, the Youki, water imps, disappeared into the ocean. The water became calm once again. The ships could now cross. This time they would reclaim Onigashima. The Yashi-Gari, and Samurai warriors got excited and gathered their ships, but…_

_The princess had used her last drop of life…her glossy black hair turned pure white and she died, screaming. According to some variants of the legend, her soul colored Lapis Lazuli seeped out of her body, and formed into a black gem. Afterwards, her brother, the Shogun's son, took the gem into his possessions._

_Her death roused her brother. He was appointed leader by his father, the Shogun. He used the ships as a decoy, and with a retuine of three people, he snuck over to the island. Once a year, at a certain place and time, a secret path to the island appear, that way, the group could sneak over, but after that, a ferocious battle broke out. Leaving the lesser Oni to his comrades, he headed to the oni lord, and drew his bow. To counter the prince, the Oni gathered massive rocks, and began to throw them, raining rocks down. Would the prince run out of arrows? Or would the Oni run out of rocks to throw? After five minutes, the Prince changed his strategy. Firing to arrow at once, the prince struck the Oni-king's eye._

_"How dare you?!"The oni lord screamed. Holding his crushed right eye, his face seething with rage, he started to cast a spell,_

_The drops of his blood turned to black Miasma. The rising Youki blocked the light coming from the sea, and enveloped the Oni-lord._

_With rumbling in the ground, the Miasma grew, expanded, and became thicker. The clear wind blew and..._

_An ox, blacker than the void appeared. It was the size of a small hill, with the ferocity of a tiger. Yellow eyes, glowing, it flung sharpened horns and kicked at the ground._

_A normal soldier would have given up without a fight. However, the prince was a mighty warrior, and knew endless courage_

_The target, not moving, was struck by many arrows, but never got injured, and the quiver soon emptied. This was no ordinary Oni. Like gods of an ancient lineage, its blood was special, and was a demon god. Then of course, weapons made by humans would do no harm, but against a divine sword, the oni should fall._

_The shogun faced the ox-shaped oni and threw away his bow. In its place shone …_

_"In the name of the Blue Palace, Dragon god, Ocean's king, lend your power! Cleave this Oni's head" he shouted, bringing up a massive sword, that shone Lapis Lazuli,_

_The rush of a sword, the wind cleaved, an impact. An ox's head tumbled to the ground in a spray of black blood._

_And so, the oni who lost their king fled like little spiders on the wind. The oppressed people of the island gave their allegiance to the shogun…_

* * *

"And so, Onigashima was reclaimed, and all ended on a happy note…"

Aoi-Sensei finished her tale. Yawning, I sighed in disappointment. I will admit I was wrapped up in the story at the start and middle, but in the end, it had a cliché ending like a fairy tale.

Glancing up at Aoi-Sensei , I let out a disapproving puff. She was wearing simple white sweats, along with a pair of track pants. She looked like a PI teacher, instead of the advisor to the Literature club. Her brown hair was very messy, and her glasses were crooked on her face. Her arms were crossed, and she wore a serious expression, which soon faded, replaced by a warm smile.

So it was just a story after all...

After the applause died down from the other students, I slight sound reached my ear, calming vibrations, the source was the bus's engine hitting rough patches on the road. The bus itself was the shame shape as a train, but it sounded more natural than going over gaps in a rail. Well, as natural as a machine could be. We were originally on a train in the afternoon, but we had since transferred to a bus, which we've traveled on for a good while now.

"And that students is the Oni legend of Unasaka."

The story teller gave a bow.

Though not a charter bus, it would not be strange to have a tour guide but…Sensei holding a mike in one hand and wearing sweats didn't look like one,

"Yes! Yes! Aoi-Sensei!"

An excited voice could be heard from behind me. Responding, Aoi-Sensei said,

"Yes, what is it?"

Aoi-Sensei no doubt rivalled a real bus guide in terms of storytelling. An expert in classics, she also knew many Fairy Tales, both Eastern and Western. Anyway,

When both teacher and students were on a bus, it usually signaled that an event was happening. And since it was summer vacation, you could infer that event was a training camp. The same excited voice from before spoke up,

"Unaska… who would have guessed where we're having training has such a legend?!"

Heading south, today we started training camp. Well…I use the word loosely since that training was reading piles of old books and some physical activity mixed in.

Again, that excited, loud, and annoying voice, entered my ears,

"Maybe we're going to learn the ultimate Oni extermination skills from a mysterious old man?!"

"Who knows?" Aoi Sensei teased.

"Awww what kind of answer is that, I can't stand this situation Sensei!" The voice practically shouted, annoying me greatly. It belonged to the highly energetic first year, Momoko Akita. Who was flailing her brown pig tails around, as she poked her head behind me. Before I could tell her to politely shut up, a kind, and quiet voice addressed Momoko from across me.

"Shhhh please keep your voice down, Momoko-Chan . Homura-Chan's trying to sleep."

Madoka Kanama, said, gently brushing the hair of the girl who was sleeping on her shoulder. Lighting patting the sleeping Homura Akemi on the head, Madoka gave Momoko an apologetic look. The first year had her pink hair done in ribbons, while Homura had her black hair done in braids. The glasses she usually wore were safely tucked in her shirt's pocket.

Momoko nodded her head eagerly, obviously not wanting to disturb the constantly ill girl. Homura had just recently had a heart surgery, and had been hit the hardest from the constant traveling, and had fallen asleep a good four hours ago. Becoming quieter, but not losing her energy, she questioned me,

"What do you think Osa-Senpai?"

I responded in a deadpan tone, "Yes Momoko, an old man is going to teach us an ancient secret sword technique…"

Momoko poked the girl sitting beside her,

"See Zawachii? Osa believes me!" A quiet and caring voice answered her,

"Momo-Chan, don't bother Shouko-Sempai." I turned my head to face Yasumi. Her brown eyes were downcast, and her skin looked paler then usual. I asked, with concern in my voice,

"Yasumi, are you all right?"

"I'm…fine Shouko." I could tell by her voice, as well as her paler than normal completion she was lying. Sighing, I let the issue slide. Like Homura, Yasumi wasn't the healthiest of people. I worried about the both of them constantly, I was their upper classmate after all. It was my duty, as their sempai, and their friend.

"Mmmhhh...yes..."

Speaking of friends, I snorted, and turned to face my best friend, Ayoishiro. She was sleeping on my shoulder and drooling. Smiling blissfully, she said,

"Not there... lick there Shouko..."

I slammed my elbow into her rib, which caused her to open her eyes, and hug me tightly,

"Oh Osa...I was just dreaming about you..." She said, winking at me. Punching her lightly on the arm, I said strictly,

"Keep me out of your perverted fantasies "Hime-San". Or i'll throw you into the sea."

Glancing outside of the window, I could see that the sun was starting to go down, with its bright rays of light turning an orangish color. Beside the road which our bus drove over, was the Southern Sea, which shone brightly under the light. When the former president told me that the training camp would take place beside the eastern sea, I was indifferent. Our school was by a lake, so I saw a large body of water every day, nothing to be excited about. But for some reason when I told the other club members, everyone became even more ecstatic about the training camp.

When I was a little girl, Grandmother would take my on all kinds of trips. She always loved traveling, occasionally , Natsu-nee, my older cousin would come along with us. , Natsu-nee was the one who kindled my interest in Kendo. Her skill in the sport was unmatched; she even made it to the nationals. They nicknamed her The Rook, for her inconveniently and deceptive swordsmanship.

Perhaps the reason going to the sea didn't really excite me was because I had already been there before when I was younger? Most of my memories of that time were blank, and I didn't really remember any specifics of were we went on are excursions, so it was a possibility.

My grandmother she...liked seeing unfamiliar things...

Like how you'll grow tall if your raised in a place with a high ceiling...

If the items in the world become larger, people grow large,

And in the summer of my third year of high school,

I went on a journey

Though it was summer camp, it was still a journey,

Riding by train than by bus,

We went towards the Sumner sea...

_**Aoishiro Opening **_(Watch) watch?v=HGWd6RFc-8c


	3. Chapter 2

_**Chapter** **2: Mountains, Temples, Poetry **_

"That was a long ride…" I said, stretching my back, and glancing at my phone's screen to check the time,

"Though we weren't sitting in seiza, it was still tough..." Mumbled Ayashiro, as she quickly got off our chair, quickly trailing behind me, while carrying her luggage in her right hand.

"Well, be grateful since the driver had it worse."

We had arrived at our destination close to sunset. The door to our bus opened with a noise different from other automobiles. Watching were I stepped, me and the rest of the students walked down the steps of the old-fashioned bus. The cool air from the busses air conditioner mixed with the humidity from outside, which caused me to feel…kinda strange.

Suddenly someone pushed through the group, shouting,

"Look! I'm number one!" Momoko smiled devilishly, as she got to the front of the group. Becoming annoyed, I yelled out,

"Hey Momoko! Be careful!"

Calling from behind, I heard Yasumi's voice, "Momo-Chan, your bag!"

Back in the bus, I heard Aoi-Sensei chuckle, "Everyone, make sure that you don't forget anything." Behind me, I could Madoka's soft voice,

"Driver-San. Thank you for your hard work."

Glancing at the scenery, I let out a large breath of air. Though we were still in Japan, the southern atmosphere and environment felt different. In the past, the strait marked the boundary between another country. My entire body felt warm, the air in front of me wavered. Hot air-filled my chest, what a heavy felling. The air density must not be the same. The salty smell of the waves was different from what I was normally accustomed to. Every breath I took felt as though it pressured my lungs. In truth, it was a little hard to breath.

As I let out a sigh, Yasumi, who had taken place beside me, also sighed and our eyes met. However...

"We've arrived! It' so hot! The summer sea!"

A wild cry reached us. Both me and Yasumi gave a pained smile,

"Momo-Chan sure is Genki." Said Yasumi, giving a dry laugh, I responded with,

"You could say that."

Perhaps I had gotten used to the air. I smiled again, and the pressure on my chest went away. Looking around, I glance in every direction,

Between the pale beech, and the sound of waves on my left, the vast ocean spread out. A few kilometers ahead was an island, past that, the vastness of the sea. Compared to the sky above land, the beaches "sky" looked wider. The setting sun was reflected on the water's surface, glittering among the waves. Oddly, the reflected light didn't light the island's shadow. It was a pity that it remained dark.

Depending on the person, the shadow-like black ink painting would be interesting, but as a person with no artistic taste, a colorful was more to my liking.

Yasumi might have felt the same as me, since she had been silent until now, letting out a long sigh

_Was she that disappointed? Well, not my place to judge, everyone had different tastes. Besides, mixing red and black didn't give that much of a good impression. _

Also standing out was…

"I see. So that's Onigashima." Said Momoko, surprisingly subdued and calm. We had just learned of another name for the island.

_An island so close to the mainland, being occupied, and subject to constant attack would've added a lot of stress. With that situation, it's no wonder there's another name for the island. Nonetheless…_

"Yo!" She rose above the breakwaters. With a hand to block the sun's ray of lights, Momoko jumped. The sounds of footsteps, then a voice,

"It's to be expected, but it looks just like a normal island."

I responded to her in a dry voice,

"It seems that way." Looking around, she checked just to make sure.

"Like I said on the bus, if it weren't, it'd be a big tourist attraction." On the bus, we had a long chat about the possibility of their being a powerful sword technique on the island. I argued that, if that was the case, why weren't the people advertising it to attract visitors to the main land?

"I see." Momoko said, sounding almost disappointed. She scanned the area one last time, "There's no big billboards, souvenirs, food stands, yah?"

"Now…"

Back on topic. I stretched my stiff body. "Why don't we head over to the inn since there's nothing here?"

Madoka, who was beside Homura, and carrying both of their luggage, said, "It's true. We are a little over our schedule as it is." Checking the time on her cell, Madoka looked a bit worried,

"We notified them before earlier today, but should we do so again?" She continued "We've been traveling half a day so there's bound to be some calculation errors…"

The reservation ticket had only the vague reservation time 'About' written on it, Madoka turned to Aoi-Sensei and asked,

"Sensei, what should we do?"

Casual as ever, Aoi-Sensei brightly smiled,

"It's fine. Don't worry about the minor details." Momoko quickly added, "I saw on TV that people in the south don't keep track of time too closely.

Apparently people from Okinawa were known to be up to 1 to 2 hours late for appointments. The certain show was pointing out an extreme case though.

Aoi-Sensei wiped the sweat off her brow and fanned her shirt to let wind in. "It's fine if we rest a bit but if we're going to relax, we might as well drop off our luggage, and change into comfortable clothes" Sensei smiled. I said stoicly,

"No. Sesnei's already comfortable enough."

If she got any more comfortable, it'll be a problem considering what she was wearing. Ayashiro stretched out, and said,

"I agree with Aoi-Sensei's idea though." Aoi-Sensei cheerfully responded,

"Then, we just have to work a little until we can rest."

Everyone in the class yelled at the same time, "Okay!"…

* * *

Is what we said…but we would need a bit more effort .

The sun traveled northeast from the southwest sea and shone along a road next to a mountain filled with lush vegetation. The round mountain wasn't that big, but it was definitely a mountain with its up and down sides. To get to the troublesome inn we had to climb the small mountain.

"Ah these are the stairs" Said Madoka quietly. Stone steps entangled with overgrown plants filled the class's vision. The steps looked like they were made from ancient materials and went diagonally up the mountain.

Glancing up, I looked at the steps we needed to climb, Momoko, spoke in awe at the sight,

"Wah, they're long…"

She had the right idea for once.

I had to look up to see the end of the stairs, I bent back slightly to look ahead. Just going up and down would be good exercise. At the end of the stairs was an old gate. Though far away, I could tell it was grand, not suitable for a home though. Plaster walls surrounded the site which had roofed tiles.

"And it's rundown…" Momoko said, with less enthusiasm then before…

That was true.

The wind and rain that assailed the place had faded the colors and bits of paint and bits of plaster had fallen off . Some of the gutters of the stone steps needed cleaning too. Homura, who was behind Madoka, blushing slightly, said in her usual quiet voice,

"..You could say it has a certain elegance."

I turned around to face her,

"You could just be honest…"

"Then I agree with Momo-Chan." She said quickly,

"In other words, it's rundown." Homura hid her head, burying it on Madoka's shoulder, who was just smiling and petting her head,

"Ummmmm...I guess it is. "

With a troubled look, she lowered her head even further, she said,

"It's alright if the gates like that. Though I wonder if the insides okay..."

"Ok?" I asked, curious to what she meant by that.

"It'll be troublesome if it leaks when it rains…" She said, tugging at her tie. Momoko suddenly emrged behind her and said, in an outdoor voice,

"Homura-Chan is to naïve! You underestimate the effects of nature on country homes."

"Eh?" Homura said, turning around surprised,

"Holes in the doors, moldy futons, spider webs everywhere. Step on the floor, you'll sink through and at night, rats hold parties…argh! It's so scary! Just thinking about it is scary!?"

Homura became terrified, as she hid behind Madoka, and yelled "Eh?! Shouko…"

Rather deadpanly, I said, "Even if you ask me, I wouldn't know-" Madoka gave me a sharp and angry look, causing me to quickly add, "I don't think it's as bad as Momoko says…" Changing the topic, I asked Sensei,

"Sensei, what's the area like?"

"I think it'll be okay. It might be dilapidated but Suzuki lives here." The name of are host, a Buddhist monk,

"Suzuki Yuukai-San…was it?"

She laughed,

"Yes. He's a friend of my father. When I asked about the camp, he replied quickly saying we could."

His name could be read 'Taskuki" (Meaning "to help") It was quite fitting. Though it sounded weird, like it wasn't his real name and he made it from his favorite motto.

Well, though my grandmother's name was written as 'Akiyoshi' it was pronounced as 'Shuuhou' giving her name a classical Chinese feel, which was weird as well.

Suddenly Momoko's face filled my vision, as she said,

"The monk's quick reply might because he was thinking 'Kukuku, cute girls from the city are coming!'."

Homura, who was still behind Madoka, quietly said, "As a monk I don't he'd say that…"

Aoi-Sensei adopted a worried expression. Momoko, catching on, called out,

"Uwah?! What's with that silence?" Aoi-Sensei spoke rather calmly,

"Eh? Suzuki-San is a very good person, though, he might have some problems as a monk…" She whispered to me, "He drinks too much Alcohol."

The monk lived here, which didn't look like it was an inn.

Yes. Our training camp was at a temple.

Looking at the temple a second time…

It did have an appropriate bearing for an ancient temple and a mysterious effect on the heart.

_Matter is void everything is constantly changing. The world shifts-no…_

There was a more famous and fitting phrase for this.

Ah that was it. I recited out loud,

"The sound of the bell at Jetavana Monaster-"

Out of nowhere, a voice finished my sentence

"…Echoes the impermanence of all things." The voice that carried on my mutterings echoed at the temples gate,

As if it that phrase was a spell, the metal bell rung in the distance. The voice continued,

"The color of the Sal Flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline."

The unknown voice recited at the same time as the bell rining to leave an impression on the assembled students. I turned around to see the owner of the voice.

The mountain was facing the calm sea we saw earlier. The setting sun was sunk halfway into the ocean, coloring it crimson. The sky was getting darker, but at the height we were at, I had to squirt my eyes against the light.

"A haughty person also fades like a midsummer nights. The mighty fall at last, they are as dust before the wind."


	4. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3: Black Haired beauties, Blonde Haired Beauties, Assault Rifles, **_

_OOC: Just a warning for people who are actually reading this lol. Things are going to become drastically different than the original Visual Novel from here on out. It'll follow the baseline of the Grand route (Along with stuff from the Kohaku ,Yasumi, and Nami route) with a lot of stuff from Madoka Magica to twist the storyline (Witches, Magical Girls, horrible white red eyed cats that we all know and love), and Aoishiro's prequel game, Akai Ito. I also cut out Migiwa __completely (Her role is replaced by fellow Oni Hunter Senba Uzuki, from Akai Ito. Despite having drastically different personalities, I MUCH preferred Uzuki, and they have basically the same role.)_

_Criticism is strongly appreciated. _

_Also I should outline some of the Madoka characters. It was originally going to have only Madoka Magica characters (No Madoka elements) But I changed that. _

_Mami: Is very different then the shows, to the point of her being almost antagonistic. (To be honest, she was always an extremist knight templar character. I'm just going to blow it up._

_Madoka: Almost the same as the show's. _

_Homura: A mix of the shows Homura, and Rebellion's Homura. While heroic , like in the show, she is **EXTREMELY **ruthless like in Rebellion (Which honestly, only showed more. She was still pretty damn ruthless in the show) As well as taking her defining characteristic from Rebellion, only caring about Madoka. Everyone else is expendable _

_Sayaka and Kyouko: While they've only appeared in the prologue so far, don't worry, they'll have a major role later. Just like the show. (Kyouko is like Rebellion's. Being more kind, but still jerkish to be people she doesn't know)_

_QB:.._

* * *

I identified the speaker after they had finished there sermon. The person was actually a she, as I recognized the voice immediately. Making sure I was correct, I glanced in her direction, and when her face came into view, I visibly scowled,

The girl was of medium height, and had long, graceful limbs. The school uniform she wore was jet black, which Shouko could tell was from a private school due to the expensive looking material. Her hair was golden, shiny, and done stylishly. The…assets on her were, without any embellishment, the size of melons.

In other words, she was stunning. No one would argue with that.

Giving me a grin, the girl said, in an oddly polite, soft tone,

"Shouko-Chan."

Eying her, I replied in a monotoned, distant, semi-cold voice

"Tomeo-San."

Mami Tomeo bowed her head, still smiling. Trying my best to smile, and failing, I spoke up,

"What are you doing here?"

Mami laughed, in a melodic voice, "Same thing as you. Me and my team are here for a training camp. The national's are soon, and we all need hone are skills to prepare. My great uncle knows the monk who lives and asked him if we could have are training camp here." She glanced at the girls assembled who were all looking at her intently, and while she looked disapproving to most, she smiled when Madoka came into her view. Madoka's face beamed up, smiling, she energetically shouted,

"Mami-San!"

Returning the smile, Mami bowed her head , cheeks blushing deeply she muttered,

"Madoka-Chan. It's been a long time." Though she was still smiling, her facial expression became slightly darker at the sight of Homura. Her voice was also a tad bit colder than normal,

"Akemi-San."

Though sickly, Homura usually had a shy, but happy expression. Her expression facing Mami Tomeo was...not happy to say the least. In a rare display of strength, Homura's face become as hard as steel, for a second, Homura didn't look like the Homura I knew

"Miss Tomeo." She practically seethed. Momoko, not noticing Homura's apparent hostility, went over and asked giving one of her moronic smiles, and speaking in her usual energetic voice,

"Ummmmm who are you? And how do you know Madoka-Chan and Osa-Sempai?"

Mami giggled, rubbing the back of her head and giving an apologetic look, "Oh I'm sorry. I didn't introduce myself to the rest of you. My name is Mami Tomeo. I'm a fourth year at Akuma Private High School for girls, also the Captain of its Kendo team."

Momoko's, and everyone else's face, but mine, Homura's, and Ayashiro's, became filled with amazement and awe. Akuma High School was famous for the Elite athletes it breed. Not only was this girl from that school, she was also the Captain of one of its many teams. Mami yawned slightly, continuing she said,

"I know Madoka from we're we both used to live, Mitakihara City. I lived near her house down the street. We were at the same elementary school for a year, and I used to play with her when she was little." She turned to face me,

"I know Shouko from the National Junior Kendo tournament." The memory of that tournament caused me to nearly snarl. During it two years ago, Mami beat me in a sparring match. Overall, I placed Seventh, while Mami got second place and won the silver medal. She eyed me and continued with that annoyingly friendly smile of her's. "Say, Osa, is it alright if I call you Osa-Chan?" She said, grinning,

Bluntly I responded with,

"Osanai-San is fine."

"Osanai-san, no offense to all these young lovely ladies." She said, moving her head around, "But none of them look like kendo club material to me." She glanced at Homura, smiling, she moved her eye's down to her chest, which caused the raven-haired girl to crush her hands into a fist. Noticing that, I filled with rage,

_Is that bitch making fun of her bloody heart condition? _

Snorting, I said,

"This isn't the Kendo team."

Mami didn't look surprised at all,

"Oh?"

"It's the literature club. I'm the president."

Mami looked at the assembled girls and laughed, "The Literature club? Osa, your hanging around a bunch of bookworms and nerds?" My eye brows furrowed in annoyance, as I said in rather nasty voice,

"I'd rather hang around bookworms and nerds, then annoying Jock's like yourself, and to you it's Osanai-San."

Mami chuckled, rubbing the back of her head once again, "Wow scary. I was only kidding...Osa. Anyway..."

She glanced over at our group and bowed her head, "Well it was nice meeting you all." She smiled in Madoka's direction, waving her hand, "It was good to see you again Madoka-Chan. Hopefully we'll see more of each other over the weekend." Madoka's cheek's unbeknownst to me, turned scarlet as she nodded her head and started to tug at her hair. Homura, who was beside Madoka, glared at Mami angrily, narrowing her vision, and giving her a dark look. Mami waving to everyone she turned around, and headed up the flight of stairs.

"Bitch." Ayashiro whispered beside me. Nodding in agreement, I said in a low tone of voice, "She really is." I turned around to face the seemingly enraged Homura. Her purple eyes were filled with hate, whispering to Ayashiro,

"I've never seen Homura so angry before." Ayaoishiro agreed with a nod,

"Yeah. Akemi-San must really not like her." Suddenly, a calm, stoic voice, similar to my own filled my hearing,

"Excuse me."

I turned around to see another girl. She was wearing the same black uniform as Mami. On her long legs was a pair of black pantyhose . She was very tall, about the same height as Aoi-Sensei, had very long ebony hair, which was actually darker than Homura's, her skin was pale, and...her eyes were oddly black. Maybe it was the lighting, but her eyes, at least to me, looked like they were an unusual dark shade of brown. She was...almost impossibly more attractive than Mami, having long eye lashes, a perfect face, and a slim body frame. Her head bowed low, she had near perfect posture,

"I am sorry for the captain's extreme rudeness. I offer my humblest apologies." She spoke in an extra formal tone, with an almost masculine air about her. Despite her extreme feminine beauty, she spoke like a male. Strangely, her hand was at her side, like she was carrying a Shienei (Bamboo sword used in Kendo) even though nothing was on her. Nodding, I said,

"I accept your apology."

She bowed her head once again,

"Thank you. I am Senba Uzuki. Vice-Captain of Akuma's kendo team. The captain shames us with her behavior. Please pay her no mind. She's just very...proud."

_Senba Uzuki, I know her..._

Senba Uzuki was a legend among people who practiced Kendo in Japan. Being only seventeen, she was on team Japan during the Olympics. She was the one who placed

Uzuki took one step back. Nodding my head, I spoke,

"My name is Osanai Shouko. President of Seijou's literature club." I turned around to Ayashiro, "This is the Vice President , Sakurai Ayashiro." Ayashiro bowed her head, "A pleasure."

Uzuki returned it before saying,

"Suzuki-Sama sent me to retrieve you."

Ayashiro became puzzled, "Suzuki-Sama?" I responded,

"The monk." I approached Uzuki, and bowed my head, "Me and my club will be in your care."

* * *

_**Homura POV**_

Fixing my hair, I watched from the back of the crowd as the raven-haired women led President Shouko and Vice-President Ayashiro up the stairs. Just before she disappeared from my view, she turned around for a split second, looking at me. She gave me an intent glance, as her right eye shone for a moment, bright blue, before turning around and letting her hair fly in the wind.

_An Onikiri...she's got to be..._

_I had brought more then enough ammo with me along with, assault rifles, pistols, rocket launchers, sub-machine guns, heavy machine guns, and C4 with me to deal with the likes of her if it came to that, and she decided to become a threat to me and Madoka, but the presence of Mami Tomeo was even more worrying._

_If no one else but Madoka was here, I could transform and double-check the supplies I had stored in my shield. A single bullet to the head would incapacitate, and kill any human, but it would take a lot more to take down a Veteran Puella Magi like Mami Tomeo. Clever and crafty she is. The magic she used, however, was no match for my control over time. If it came to that, I had no doubt I could defeat her with relative ease. Especially with Madoka by my side,_

_That bloody Incubators top bitch is here. So much for me and Madoka's safety. I was honestly hoping they would have stopped chasing us by now. Maybe...maybe i'm being a little parnoid. Maybe there here for a completely different reason._

If Mami was here, there was bound to be more Magical Girls. Mami never traveled alone, she would keep a retinue of bodyguards and magical girl assassins near her . Meaning Homura can't trust anyone from the Akuma Kendo team. Besides the Onikiri, there was a chance all of them could be Mami's troop's, of course, under the payroll of the little white rat himself. I swore under my breath,

_If Kyouko hadn't failed the entrance exam, she could be covering my back right now. Even the Miki girl would be better than having Miss oblivious...at least I could use her as a human shield against Tomeo's barrage of musket fire. Kyouko could have brought Yuma, and Yuma could have gotten her sister Fumi to help us out. Still, if things get out of hand, I can always get into contact with her through the Miki girl by phone. I might have to rely on the Onkiri after all. Damn it._

As much as the Onikiri hated her, as the blasted Oni-Hunters hated anyone who used magic, there's and Homura's interests had aligned on a handful of occasions. If Homura could convince them that Mami Tomeo, was more dangerous then two rouge Puella Magia, Homura didn't doubt she could enlist there help. Homura would only do that if she exhausted all of her options.

Of course, none of these thoughts were in Madoka's mind, as she was simply humming a song in her head, tightly holding my hand. Smiling, I nudged her a bit.

"Hey Madoka, shouldn't we follow the rest?"

Madoka nodded energetically, grabbing my hand she pressed forward. Madoka was smiling brightly,

"Isn't it great to see Mami-San again?"

"It really isn't. Unless you're talking about for target practice then yes."

Madoka's face became annoyed, as she shouted,

"Dont say an awful thing like that about Mami-San."

"I was only joking around. Dont worry."

_I really ain't. Can imagine the red dot on her forehead._

_"Good." _Madoka once again grabbed my arm, burying her face into it. She said playfully,

"You aren't jealous Homura-Chan?"

"I'm always Jealous, when your around other girls Madoka." I said in a deadpan voice. Me and Madoka started to climb the large steps that lead to Shoushinji, holding each others arms, interlocked in our mutual love,

_I mean it..._


	5. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4: Memory, Red Tsubaki, Oil Rigs,**_

_**Shouko POV**_

_**Shoushinji**_

In groups of two's and three's, we followed Uzuki up the stone steps. Each side of the old-looking stairs had a low wooden barrier. It wasn't really needed, since the trees beside the stairs acted as a wall. A massive, pale white wall. Ayashiro paused, glancing around at the scenery with excitement and interest,

"So…"

Temples and shrines were known for their lovely scenery, however,

"Shoushinji sure has a lot of flowers…"

It was very impressive to have one species of flower blooming around the path. The pure white flowers shone from the shadows of the trees.

_It looks extraordinary._

The ancient stone stairs were certainly a boundary between the temple and the outside world.

As if she noticed our astonishment, Uzuki cleared her throat and said,

"You should see it when the moon's out. Its rays of white light compliment the flowers quite extraordinary" Replying with her usual moronic grin, Momoko asked, "So it doesn't look as good during the evening?"

Following up with another statement, Ayashiro said with a slight gasp at the sight of the white flowers that carpeted the stone stairs, and the surrounding area.

"Oh, it seems like a lot of flowers have fallen…" Uzuki gave a dry, sarcastic laugh. Talking in her usual voice,

"Blooming at day. Withering at night. Doesn't it give the feeling similar to the old saying about Sal trees, "All glory must fade"?"

Letting out a breath of realization, I said,

"So these are Sal…"

Referencing me and Mami's joint poem, Aoi-Sensei asked,

"Huh? Weren't you referring to these flowers back there?" I shook my head,

"No. I didn't know these were Sal flowers."

_Come to think of it, I didn't even know the poem referred to the white flower species. __Must be a coincidence. That happens occasionally._

"These are Sal trees?" I asked,

Aoi-sensei was the one who answered my question,

"Yes they are. However…these ones seem to be…different?" Her answer was vague. She continued,

"Real Sal trees are from India. If it's not hot, they can't grow. Before the invention of greenhouses, they didn't exist in Japan. Some monk thought that Japan needed them, so he searched in the wilds. The result is this tree with white flowers, the summer Tsubaki. This is the Japanese version of the Sal tree. Due to their origins, there not uncommon to see at temples. Though it's a little rare to see this many."

Momoko energetically added,

"It really is amazing."

Pushing my back, a strong salty wind blew. The winds strength might be because lack of obstructions from the sea to here.

The white flowers did not scatter but held their shape as they fell to the ground.

The short, one day life of the flowers were reaped by the wind. Almost tragic.

Falling…

The white, transient flowers melted into the fading sun…

Red light and…

Dark Shadows…

Bewildered, I closed my eyes,

When I opened them again, I saw…

Red…

That red color was definitely not the setting sun nor the light. An odd…flower like shape? Floating above me among the dead, fallen flowers

_Something oddly similar to the falling white flowers…but...a different color._

Was it the color of the Tsubaki?

A quiet voice interrupted my train of thought. Turning around, I saw the shy face of Yasumi.

"Shouko-Sempai, is something wrong?"

"Eh?"

She giggled slightly, huffing a little, as if she was out of breath.

"You seemed spaced out."

"Huh…?"

I thought I had been dazzled by the sight of the fallen Tsubaki for only a moment.

Looking around, it was just Yasumi and me. The others were already several steps ahead. The timid girl asked innocently.

"Were you entranced by the pretty flowers? " Shaking my head, I responded softly. When I talked to Yasumi, I always made an effort to speak as gently as possible,

"That's not exactly it…"

My heart was not stolen by the flowers here.

_What the heck was that vision?_

I took a breath to calm down, before saying to Yasumi with a cheerful smile,

"Anyway, you did well to notice I was falling behind."

Sticking out her chest, Yasumi said with pride, "I'm still manager after all." Her eyes became downcast, her skin unusually pale, and I also noticed she was breathing hard. My eyebrows raised suspiciously, and she eventually admitted, with a sad smile,

"That would be lie, it's because of my anemia..."

Apparently embarrassed by her lack of stamina, Yasumi's skin was temporarily as bright as the setting suns color. She said quietly,

"The stairs were a little tough to climb, so I was going to rest for a second. Then I noticed Sempai."

I let out a loud sigh, Yasumi asked, genuinely curious,

"Shouko-Sempai?"

In a situation like this I could ask if she was okay, but because of my grandpa's lack of courtesy, I just stared at her to asses her condition. It wasn't a habit I liked. It wouldn't be a problem to soften my expression, but in my case, it would look forced,

"Shouko-sempai, what's wrong?"

Her innocent, bright smile urged me to answer,

Since I was being asked, I should just answer honestly,

"Please pass me your bags."

I wanted to prevent Yasumi from politely hiding her condition from the rest of the club. She looked suprised,

"Eh? I...I'm fine."

"It'll be bad if you fall down the stairs."

"But..." She stood her ground.

Though she didn't look it, she could be very stubborn, and always finished a task assigned to her. Which caused me to worry even more about her. Suddenly, she turned her head around,

"WAGHHHHHHHH"

Momoko's animal-like cry distracted her for a second, causing me to rush forward and grab the luggage from her.

"See everyone's already climbed up."

Her face became shy, and she gently cried out,

"Shouko-Sempai, wait a minute!"

…

Passing the temple's gate, we saw the courtyard and main building. Wild grass in the stone pavement as well as scattered fallen flowers gave it a rundown look.

The sepia-colored twilight might have made emphasize of the dreariness of the scene

While not as bad as the gate, the main building looked pretty old too. Momoko caught wind of that,

"Wah! As expected, it's rundown."

Uzuki gave a hollow laugh, "Indeed it is. But the room you're using are neat and tidy."

Madoka let out a reassuring "thank god."

Momoko put her hands to her chest, each an inch apart from her red tie, smiling,

"That's very good to hear."

Ayashiro sighed in relief,

"I'm a little relieved…"

Aoi-sensei puffed up, crossing her arms,

"Hey don't say such rude things. We're in the care of the people here…"

"No, no, it's quite all right." Said a male voice. The person who interrupted Aoi-Sensei's objection was not one of use. He was standing right next to us. He had a refined, cheerful voice.

"As you can see, it's rundown, but thanks you for coming." Turning around, we saw the temple's owner. Wearing simple, dark, robes, his Buddah necklace was hidden by a large white beard.

Looking up we could see a prominent nose, and thick eyebrows. His shiny head was completely bald.

He was the personification of a stereotypical mountain monk. Minus one thing, which Momoko, once again, pointed out,

"He's big! Bigger than my grandpa!" She practically shouted,

He was much taller than expected, as well as being much muscular. A big difference from my slender grandfather. He gave Momoko a smile,

"Oh, did I scare you?"

His shoulder formed a line upward, and right next to him, Momoko, are smallest member must have thought he looked like a wall. He let out a hearty laugh,

"I am Suzuki Yuukai. I am the one, and only, humble chief priest here. It's rundown, but there's no one else to help me. Since I was ringing the bell, I was even late in meeting you."

The monk pointed to an altar bell. It was like one you'd see on TV. With four pillars on four sides, surrounded by vegetation on three sides, it looked odd. Ayashiro asked,

"Then monk-sama just rang the bell?"

He looked downcast,

"Yes."

She smiled, closing her eyes,

"That sound clears the heart."

_Bullshit._

He smiled once again,

"I'm glad you liked it."

Madoka chirped in, "Though, it was quite a random time to ring the bell." I added, agreeing with her,

"Well, that's true."

He rubbed the back of his head, giving us a apologetic grin,"I see you've noticed. It's ture it's at a random time but this is a poor temple, and an automatic bell ringer would bring horrible karma."

Ayashiro seemed confused,

"Eh? Automatic?"

Ayashiro, unlike most the club, was actually Christian. The monk laughed,

"Fufufufu. There's such things now."

She looked blank, as the monk stroke his luxurious beard and continued,

"It sometimes seems like Shoushinji is a small temple with too many parishioners, if it were larger." He paused, putting his hands in his sleeves

"It's a bit hard to ring the bell at a set time each morning and evening. I understand the difficulty, and unfortunately, I'm the only one here. The bell at Shousshinji sometimes rings on time, sometimes not, sometimes not at all."

"Hah." I laughed dryly.

He continued, "In other words it all depends on my mood. Wahahaha."

If you wanted to explore the situation more, the laughing monk could be considered rough, but you also could think of him as broadminded.

"The monk?"

The monk suddenly narrowed his eyes and looked at me.

"The lady here and the lady over there."

He pointed at me, and the surprised looking Yasumi,

"Yes?" We both said at the same time. The monk, while still speaking in the care free voice he had moments before, eye's became what could only be described as cold,

"Is this the first time you've been here?" Yasumi looked downward, and said

"Eh? Why do you ask?"

"Searching my memory…" The monk rubbed his head, before finally stating,

"You two seem very familiar, so I thought I'd ask." He frowned and shook his head. Momoko gave him a sympathetic look,

"I understand. I understand. When you want to remember something, but can't it feels bad."

She turned to face Yasumi,

"So Zawacchi, have you been here before?"

The monk asked,

"Hmmmm, so the lady over there is something like "Zawa-San"?"

As if looking for a clue, Yasumi glanced my way. After looking at me, she gave an apologetic expression,

"I'm Aizawa Yasumi. The club manager. This is the first time coming here."

The monk started to tug his white beard,

"Hmmmm…it's not an unusual name, but I don't remember an Aizawa-san like you. In my line of work, I should be good with names. Rubbing his head, the monk glanced at the other students, then to me,

"So Osa-Sempai?"

"Hmmmm?" I muttered,

Urged by Momoko, I looked around. Curious, I slowly said,

"It's not red…right?"

"You mean Osa-Sempai's face?"

"No not me."

On the ground, the color of the flowers blanketed the stone steps and grass white. As if she knew what I was looking at, she said,

"The summer Tsubaki?"

In the twilight, I confirmed that the petals were white

"They're definitely not red, but there might be red ones blooming somewhere. Are there any around here?"

The monk spoke up,

"The white flowers bloom, therefore the flowers are sal."

Aoi-sensei added, with a smug expression,

"They say where Buddga died, white flowers from a Sal Tree Bloomed. That's why it shouldn't be a different color."

If red sal existed, it would be blooming at a temple like this. In other words, a red summer Tsubaki didn't exist.

"So that was some other place…" I stuttered out,

Yasumi asked, "Do you have any ideas?" Her face was filled with concern. Answering I said,

"Akiko-san, my grandmother, liked to travel, and when I was little she brought me to quite a few places."

Her husband liked to stay home, her daughter and son-in-law were busy with work, so she could only travel with and her niece. I continued my explanation,

"Those long stars brought back some weird memories though…"

The color of the Tsubaki was buried in my mind, Yasumi asked,

"Is that why you stopped earlier?"

I nodded, and tried to clear my head. I've been to many oceans and temples. I might have been here before, the possibility wasn't zero

"I was dragged around quite a bit, so my memory is not altogether reliable. Might have been mixed up."

Maybe the red color of the flowers were mixed up with some other memory of white flowers.

There's no such thing as a totally reliable memory

Glancing at the monk, Homura said, very quietly,

"But Shouko, the monk said you looked familiar."

The monk looked at me, and asked,

"So your name is Shouko?"

I confirmed it,

"Shouko Osanai."

The monk started to stroke his beard again,

"Osanai...Osanai...I'm sorry, it dosen't ring any bells. I must have mistaken you two for someone else." He bowed his head apologetically. "Must have been someone else."

_**Noroko Hatou POV**_

_**Pacific**__**Ocean**_

Taking out the blood stained knife from the JDF soldier's neck, I continued to cover his mouth as I slowly let his body fell to the floor. Carefully getting out of my crouched position, I put the jagged combat knife back into the sheave on my right shoulder, and carefully drew my silenced pistol, leaning into the metal wall. Right beside me, the closed-door blocked my sight, and hindered our progress into the control room. In an instant, I conjured my magic, which gave me extended vision, and allowed me to see through the wall.

_Three armed men. An officer in the chair, an engineer by the console, and a regular grunt covering the door. The grunt has an assault rifle in hand as well as a Handgun, and combat knife. He's wearing combat fatigues, and has a helmet on. The engineer has a handgun at his side, as does the officer. Hmmmm, the office also has a sheathed Tanto by his handgun, as well as a Katana on his left side. This should be easy._

Whispering, I told the girl who was to my left,

"Alright Hakaira. I need you to short-circuit the power in the next room."

Hakaira Hasubusa nodded. She was much shorter than me, and had made a contract with Kyubey when she was only eight. Her hair was done in pig tails, which was bright green. The silver ring on her finger glowed bright green, as she said, her voice extremely low,

"Five.

"Four."

I readied my pistol.

"Three"

My own violet ring glowed, as my vision became greenish tinged. I turned on night vision.

"Two"

With my free hand, I took a flash grenade from my belt,

"One."

I heard the sound of light bulbs exploding, and a surprised voice,

"What the hell?!"

Wasting no time, I slammed open the door, and tossed the Flash Bang into the room, covering my eyes, I counted in my head,

_One, Two, Three,_

It went off with a loud "bang", blinding the three JDG members with a flash of bright white light. The flash was strong enough to daze Hakaira a little, but my magic protected my eyes. I rushed into the room, holding my silenced Beretta with two hands. Aiming first for the assault rifle armed guard to my right; I squeezed the trigger, popping him in the head. The helmet didn't protect him, as his body fell limp to the floor. Turning to my left, I fired from my hip shooting the engineer in the chest, as he attempted to cover his eyes, still recoiling from the shock of the flash bang. Getting closer to the officer, who had by now adjusted to the room's darkness, and recovered from the blinding flash bang, I prepared to finish him off, but was surprised, when he lunged towards me with his Tanto drawn in hand. Years in the Defense Force had seemingly given this man good reaction time, as he slashed at me from the side.

Dodging his attack, I jumped back a bit, as I fired my pistol point-blank towards his stomach, but was denied when he slammed his blade into my weapon and ducked to the left avoiding the bullet, causing my hand to instinctively drop the handgun. Jumping backwards again, I drew my combat knife from its sheath. In response the officer drew his Katana, gripping the blade with his two hands, he charged at me, slashing his blade downward with a warcry. I blocked it with my combat knife, while simultaneously launching a kick towards his knee. It landed on the knee with a loud crunch, as the man screamed out in pain. He fell to the floor, Katana in hand. Wasting no time, I lunged forward, and planted my knife in his throat. Gurgling blood, he dropped his sword. I kicked him backwards, tearing out my knife as I did. His dead body landed with a thud". Behind me, an amused voice spoke,

"Nice job Noroko."

Smiling under my Balacava, I sheathed my knife, as well as my pistol,

"No thanks to you."

As I said those words, the light on the console near the dead engineer flickered on. The small girl went forward, stepping over the body of the soldier. Like most magical girls, her uniform had frills on them. Complementing her green hair color, and green eyes, the color of her outfit was a vibrant green. It looked like what a ballerina would wear. On her feet, were glass high heels, and on her hands, white gloves. Compared to my outfit, she practically looked like a princess. Taking out a USB stick from her pack, she inserted it into the console, and started typing. I asked her impatiently,

"How long is it going to take you to hack into the mainframe?"

The short magical girl responded with,

"Two minutes. Contact Shimgini, and tell her to get the chopper ready for extraction."

Trying to reach her with telepathy was a waste of time. She was certainly out of range. I instead turned on the headset I was wearing over my balaclava, and spoke through it,

Before I could, however, Hakaira softly reminded me,

"We don't want to be traced by the JDF and jammed. Make it as brief as possible."

"Understood." I said, feeling slightly annoyed at the interruption. I spoke into the mic,

"This is First Lieutenant Hatou to command, do you read?"

A voice obscured by slight static entered into my ear,

"Read you loud and clear Lieutenant. Has the package been secured?" Asked the voice. I turned to Hakaira. She was typing on the console's control terminal. She gave me a thumbs up, as she took out the USB stick. I responded with,

"Roger. We need extraction."

The static filled voice, continued,

"Negative. The oil rig has several AA guns manned, making the area too hot for are birds to land."

Taking a breath of air, I asked, "Then how should we proceed?"

Responding, the person at the end of the line said,

"Intel states that the oil rig has several prototype Mitsubishi RP-1's stored on multiple unused helipads. Ever take those, or destroy the AA guns so we can land and pick you up. "

Saying snarkily, "Wouldn't they just shoot us down?"

The voice said,

"apparently not. In thirty minutes there's a scheduled test drive. That's you window. Your famous luck is holding out I see, Lieutenant."

Smiling, I responded with, "Roger that command." Blushing slightly, I said rather quietly, "Has...admiral Tomeo returned yet?"

A chuckle could be heard from the other side of the mic, "Not yet, Lieutenant. She'll be back on the Hope in a day or two."

The "PM hope" (Short for Puella Magi Hope) was the Mobile command center for the Japanese branch of the Puella Magi. A massive dreadnought battleship, usually, it was cloaked by powerful magic, allowing it to slip noticed by the Japanese government. Equipped with state of the art navigation, support, and weaponary it could go toe to toe with any ship in the JMSDF (Naval branch of the JDF. Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.)

Before I could respond, Hakaira called out,

"Remember, don't take up too much time on the line?"

_Yikes, I forgot._

Quickly, I said,

"Alright. Gotta go dark. Will contact you once we secure a bird."

The static filled voice spoke once more, before the line went to pure static,

"Roger lieutenant. Happy hunting. Command out."

I turned off my headset and turned to face Hakaira.

"Alright. Looks like command can't provide us an extraction-"

My voice suddenly lowered, as a massive quake shook my body, and caused myself to be thrown onto the floor. It felt like that artillery was pounding the hull A voice filled my head,

_This is Captain Alision Miller to any Puella Magia in the area, please respond._

Ignoring the pounding headache, I responded telepathically in my head,

_This is Lieutenant Noroko Hatou. Identify yourself._

While the voice spoke fluent Japanese, her accent was American,

_I am Captain Alision Miller, of the PM Victorious. I'm under orders from Admiral Tomeo, of the Japanese branch to destroy this oil rig._

_What?! My orders were to simply__retrieve data from the main terminal here. Not a torch and burn op._

Captain Miller gave a tired sigh,

_I was told that a pair of Puella Magi were running an intel Op under orders from Admiral Tomeo. Those orders have been changed. You are to evacuate the oil rig, and hand over the data to me._

_Can you give me the clearance code?_

_Blackfish._She said,

I turned to Hakaira, who had just gotten up. She had apparantley heard everything as well,

"It checks out." She said,

Nodding, I asked,

_The code checks out. Were do you want us to meet up with you?_

_Dont worry, we'll pick you up from the sea. Just make your way off the oil rig before we pound it into dust._

Gunfire and screams could now be distantly heard,

_Roger that._


End file.
